Editorial: Traditions, Ancestors, and Other Excuses

Every Christmas my Mother follows a family tradition – one that she has obeyed since her first year of marriage; one that her Mother also obeyed in the same manner.  She bakes a Christmas cake.  Not just any Christmas cake – this cake begins life at the start of October, and is laced with brandy every day (twice, because my Father ‘forgets’ Mum has done it already) until mid-December, when it is finally deemed alcoholic enough to be iced and eaten. 

Every day Pagans follow traditions of their path – traditions their ancestors obeyed and followed, traditions that kept the path alive.  But the big difference between such Pagans and my Mother is that at least she had the honesty to see that she follows the tradition not because of her ancestors or because it is ‘in her blood’, part of her heritage, but because it’s a nice tradition.  Sadly, so many Pagans feel that this is not a good enough reason to follow traditions and have to make up another excuse which sounds more plausible to the “down-with-all-the-fluffies” brigade.

If you haven’t come across this argument before then you obviously haven’t frequented enough online Pagan forums: “I practise [insert path here] because I have traced a line of my family back to it.”  “I follow [insert Pagan practice/tradition here] because it is in my blood-heritage – and therefore part of my spiritual heritage.”  “Why are you practising Egyptian magic?  Your family are Irish!  Go find yourself a holy well dedicated to Brighid and learn Gaelic!” 

It is fair enough researching and practising a path that your family has a blood link to – but we need to ask ourselves if that should be the deciding factor in choosing a path?  Does blood heritage really link itself so solidly to what we call ‘spiritual heritage’ (and what is that anyway?)  And does not having a blood tie to a Pagan path or culture exclude one from practising it? 

Anybody who answers ‘yes’ is, in my opinion, verging on an attitude of exclusivity and racism unbecoming of neo-Paganism.  It would be like refusing a Taoist a slice of Mother’s (superbly alcoholic) Christmas cake on the grounds that their ‘spiritual heritage’ (and from this point on you should hear those words spoken with a definite voice of contempt and amusement) does not include the observance of Christmas.  It’s not only bad manners – it’s also absurd.

[The Editor takes a break to briefly adjust her plaits, pass her significant other his battleaxe and watch as he sails away for a few years on his latest rape-pillage-burn expedition to Lindisfarne – where they make wonderful mead.]   

Such thoughts are absurd simply because this world is a great big melting pot of cultures and people and religion – any one of us probably has links to a dozen different cultures in our blood.  Why do we pick just one of our ‘spiritual heritages’ over the rest?  And if we’re going by closest/biggest links then why not reform back to good old medieval Christianity or Catholicism?  Lately though, I haven’t seen many neo-Pagans accepting communion or attending Latin masses… 

[Editor is forced to take another break in order to make a pyre ready to burn the village leader in hopes of a good harvest next year.]

If you ask me, all this stuff about blood-ties, ancestors, and traditions is just an excuse for practising how we do.  But why do we need any excuses at all?  Why do we feel the need to justify our paths and practises beyond the simple “It calls me; I am interested in it” answer?  Do we really care that much if Joe Bloggs on the internet doesn’t think we should be studying Vodou because our family isn’t Creole, or that traditions should be followed to honour the ancestors (whoever they may be)?  If I want to follow a tradition it will be because I think it’s fun, enjoyable, or good in a way that benefits me and those around me – not long-dead ancestors who I can reverence in other, more fitting ways if I so wish.  If I want to study Babylonian magic it will be because I find it interesting – no other reason involved.  Otherwise, if we all paid that much attention to our ancestors and our ‘spiritual heritage’, we should all probably find ourselves practising a religion of ancient Ethiopia, the Northern Heathens would continually feel compelled to beat up their Celtic Christian friends, and the rest of us would not even be thinking about such things because we’d be saying twelve Hail Mary’s and twenty Our Father’s. 

Happy Christmas/Yule/New Year/break from Uni – may your holiday traditions be fun and not dictated by crappy excuses!

Blessings,

Kim Huggens

[The Editor celebrates the finished article by sacrificing a small goat to Odin and drinking far too much mead.]